Monarchs still brighten our days

Monarchs flutter and zip daily through our garden, almost a constant presence these days.

We still are in awe each time we see them, and hope this isn't the last summer and autumn that they will be here.

Although some of the plants are no longer blooming, of the native plants the California Delta sunflower plants are still producing a few flowers. Here a veteran female rests on a dried sunflower. Her tattered and worn wings are proof of a long, productive life.

Meanwhile this female kept returning to a blooming dahlia that is growing in a large pot on our patio.

Although I try to grow as many native plants as possible for the pollinators, we do have a few non-native plants, mostly in the patio area. The dahlia is a great backup nectar blossom for the butterflies and bees, for that transition period when the spring and summer natives go dormant, before the fall and winter natives start to bloom.